Turtle Mountains Indian Trail Backpack

Any hikers interested in a guided tour of these trails can find me on Facebook as Nevada Bob. The Indians walked from the river to Mopah Spring then on to Horn Spring then to a spring near Black Ridge that I call Last Spring. The route can be followed now but the trail is gone in places. A one way hike ending at highway 62 is 20+ miles, making for a long dayhike. But it's easy to set up a cache near the midway point for a 2 day backpack. Or stash a backpack at the cache and carry a day pack for the first day. Plot this at caltopo before attempting it. It's not a bad idea to set up a cache even for a dayhike, in case you screw up somehow. And don't build any eyesore fire rings. Remember, the Indian spirits are watching. Don't piss'em off. Take good care of their trail. It's the best one I know of.

The trail enters Mopah Spring canyon.

Mopah Peak. Lynne Foster's book says an Indian first climbed it in the 19th century.

Just before Mopah Spring

Palms at the spring

I've never seen it dry. I was there just before and after a big rain. There was no change.

The trail enters Vidal Valley.

It runs by Castle Rock.

Then past Horn Spring and over rocky hills.

The final leg goes thru a gap west of Black Ridge.

Last Spring

• DAY 1 -   To set up a cache, take highway 62 to mp 117.7 and go north a short way to the north side of the canal. From there, take the leftmost fork (not the canal road) and go nearly 7 miles on easy 4wd to a rocky hill on the left side of the road at the wilderness boundary. Walk along the south side of the hill and eventually into a wash and go at least a mile to get close to a pothole at N34 11328, W114 46404. It had half a bathtub of water from rain a week earlier, but can't be counted on. I left a backpack with water in it and had the pothole as extra if I needed it.  To fill the day, a loop hike can be done over May Benchmark. Get on the high ground on the east side of the pothole and walk north a half mile to the mouth of Horn Spring canyon and meet the closed road. Stay on the road to Horn Spring and then on to the Virginia May Mine, or use a mine trail on the right bank at the spring reading 12505, 47376 el 2050 and walk that for a third of an air mile to where it crosses to the left bank el 2150 then up to 12526, 47842 el 2300 where it goes up a flat bank and meets the road at el 2400. It's best to walk the road from there to nearly the end then get on a trail at 12226, 48045 el 2700. Walk that for .15 air mile to a saddle el 2750 next to a large cairn where the peak is in view. Walk level out of the saddle toward the peak on a faint trail and it merges on to the main ridge then it's obvious how to walk the ridge until an ugly peak gets in the way a third mile before the BM. I could see a high saddle on the left of that peak, so I went left of center to get in the first gully then up that to cliffs then along the base of the cliffs to the saddle at 11825, 47366 el 2750. I was forced to trend uphill staying left of center to get back on the ridgetop, but was nearly on top of the ugly peak. Then the rest was obvious to the reg at 11667, 47202. Placed by Carey and Adrian in 1997, no one else had signed in. I wanted to descend the south ridge, but couldn't see down it so I used the canyon on the west side of it. I looked back up and could see that the ridge would work after all. Upon hitting the wash at the bottom, I went down that a fifth mile then got out and walked the base of the peak into the smooth wash that has the pothole.  That whole loop took 5 and a half hours with around 1500 gain and hardly any steep. Just stashing the pack would take 1 hour. One easier loop would be to go as far as the Virginia May Mine then return down the south canyon. I saw a trail going down into it.
• DAY 2/3 - Leave a vehicle along highway 62 at a gap in the canal reading N34 05108, W114 46472. I left my motorhome .7 mile to the east at mp 112.4. Or use the sat image to find a way onto the canal road. Then drive 27 miles and turn off US 95 at mp 21.9 and follow BLM road #634 to the closure in a bit over 4 miles. 2wd trucks might make all but the last half mile, cars could go a mile or more and mtn bikes could do it all.  Head across the flats to the trail at  19953, 43928. Soon it meets an airstrip then resumes at the far end. It goes along the bench then drops into the wash. A fifth mile up the wash is where it gets easy to walk the left bank.  It resumes on the right at 19470, 44740 and goes a fifth mile then crosses to the left side. It goes along the base of the slope for over a third mile then back into the wash. Go on up the wash to 18981, 46314 where the trail goes up the right bank.  It goes to the spring in a quarter mile. The trail goes on from the spring on the right bank to the main saddle then goes down on the right side of a drainage. At 18500, 47165 it bends away to the left and hits a mega wash. Walk down the wash past a pothole at 17443, 46482 that had about half a bathtub of water. The trail appears again at 16446, 46177. I stayed in the mega wash until a half mile from it. It's spotty and goes on to 15808, 46062 then at 15457, 46020 it goes into a broad saddle. It goes down the other side on the right bank of a wash, but it's dippy and it's easier to walk the wash then hit the trail at 14913, 45962. It goes on to 14475, 45897 where it will cross a big wash and resume on the other side at 14260, 45856. Next is 13986, 45913 then crosses a road then 13647, 45924 then 13335, 45943  then 13101, 45990.  At 12441, 46261 it drops into a wash. It goes upstream a few feet then resumes on the left bank and is easy to see again but it goes to Horn Spring, so get off the trail and walk the base to the mouth of Horn Spring canyon. A faint branch trail runs along here. The main trail resumes at the south side of the mouth and goes down to the cache at the pothole (11328, 46404) then goes to 11102, 46432 where it goes up over a saddle and down the other side into a wash. Stay in the wash and get on the right bank at 10555, 46755 and when that fizzles get back in the wash and go down to a main fork. Climb out there to high ground at 10200, 47020 where there are two choices but no trail. It would save a mile to head straight across gullies to a mega wash crossing at 09712, 47218. But I decided stay on the high ground and go west 3/4 mile to skirt the gullies then I followed an old road down to the crossing, but I should have tried crossing at 09855, 47503. From either crossing just  walk to the trail again at 08896, 47441 where it dips into a wash. Go up the wash a tenth mile to a fork and the trail goes up between the forks then on to 08625, 47665 then to the rim at Last Spring reading 08515, 48053. All potholes were bone dry. A sketchy road runs south from the spring on the west bank. I followed it to a broad hill then went left around that to another road at 06988, 47070 and on to the canal. There are mega washes to the west that might also work for the last bit. Posted 2019.
• TIME - it took 90 minutes to get to Mopah Spring and another 4 and a half hours to the mouth of Horn Spring canyon. Then 3 hours to Last Spring and nearly 2 more to the canal. I could do it in one day but might not enjoy it so much. There is hardly any strenuous gain. I'll shorten the time on the next trip in 2020.
• WATER  - Mopah Spring had a pool 3 feet across and nearly a foot deep, no running water. I've never seen it dry up. The next pothole at 17443, 46482 is sunny and the cache pothole is shaded. Both had half a bathtub of water from rain a week earlier. The well at Horn Spring reading  12493, 47315 el 2000 is a 2 mile side trip. It's 10 feet or so down to the water, but who knows what's in there? Dead rodents? I'd drink it in a pinch. I've never seen water at Last Spring, but holes there should have water for a couple of days after a rain, but who can time that? There are also potholes in the vicinity of 10189, 47775 that were dry that day. Posted 2019.